Mozambique: No attack on Tsangano, say authorities

10:29 CAT | 26 Jul 2019

“This information, made public through social media, is false”, declared the district administrator, Eugenio Muxanga, cited in Friday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”. [Cropped photo: Social Media]

The authorities in Tsangano district, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, have denied claims on social media, circulating since Wednesday, that armed men had attacked a vehicle in the district.

The story was that a group of unidentified armed men had attacked a pick-up truck on one of the roads in Tsangano and had murdered some of its passengers. They had then supposedly set the truck on fire.

“This information, made public through social media, is false”, declared the district administrator, Eugenio Muxanga, cited in Friday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

Edited photo: Social Media

“Throughout the district, there is no record of any attack”, said Muxanga. “No victim has entered any health unit”.

As for the photos that had appeared, Muxanga denied that they were from Tsangano. He pointed out that Tsangano is a plateau, with a landscape that looks nothing like the photos.

“Noticias” reporters in Tete contacted the police force and the health authorities, who both corroborated the statements by Muxanga. There had been no armed attack anywhere in Tsangano.

The paper also contacted the authorities in the neighbouring district of Macanga, who also said there had been no armed attack. There had not even been any traffic accident in which the vehicle mentioned in the story could have been damaged.

Tsangano is in the northern part of Tete, bordering on Malawi. The former rebel movement Renamo has been active there in the past, but there have been no recent reports of any clashes involving Renamo.